1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of displaying an image taken by an imaging device, and relates more specifically to an imaging device, a display controller, and a display apparatus, capable of controlling a method of displaying the shot images on the basis of posture information of the imaging device.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, integration density of an image sensor, such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), and signal processing used for it has been increased, and the CCD and the CMOS have been able to be provided at low cost, so that a digital still camera and a digital video camera (hereinafter, referred merely to as digital camera) capable of converting an optical image of a subject into an electrical image signal to be outputted therefrom have rapidly come into widespread use.
FIGS. 18A through 18C are views showing a relationship between a posture of a digital camera and a posture of a shot image displayed on a display section. As shown in FIGS. 18A through 18C, a user shoots a subject by changing the posture of the digital camera 100 according to a shooting purpose. For example, in shooting a landscape subject, such as scenery, the user shoots the image by setting the posture of the digital camera 100 in a horizontal state, while in shooting a portrait subject, such as a person, a building or the like, the user shoots by setting the posture of the digital camera 100 in a vertical state. Hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 18A, a posture of the digital camera 100 when a stroke direction of a shutter button is in parallel to a gravity direction will be referred to a horizontally framed shooting posture, while as shown in FIG. 18B, a posture of the digital camera 100 when the stroke direction of the shutter button perpendicular to the gravity direction will be referred to a vertically framed shooting posture. Additionally, images taken in respective postures will be referred to a horizontally framed image or a vertically framed image. In the conventional digital camera 100, the shot image has been displayed in the same direction as the posture of the digital camera 100 in shooting. In other words, when the image taken in the vertically framed shooting posture as shown in FIG. 18B is displayed on the display section while setting the digital camera 100 in the horizontal state as shown in FIG. 18C, a horizontal and vertical direction of the shot image to be displayed will be displayed differently from a horizontal and vertical direction in shooting. Accordingly, at the time of displaying a series of shot images in which the vertically framed images and the horizontally framed images are mixedly present, there has been a problem of a difficulty in visibility because the horizontal and vertical direction of the vertically framed image has been different from that the image in shooting.
In order to solve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-45354 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) proposes a technology to provide a rotation state detection unit for detecting a rotation state of a photoelectric converter, and an addition unit for adding rotation state information in shooting to image information obtained on the basis of an output of the photoelectric converter, to an imaging device.
Adding the rotation state information to the shot image signal makes it possible to detect the shooting posture of the digital camera in shooting, and display the image corresponding to the posture in shooting, irrespective of the image taken in the horizontally framed shooting posture or in the vertically framed shooting posture.
In the case of displaying a plurality of images taken by the user, there is provided a method of displaying the shot images in a list form on a display section 200 provided in the digital camera. In order to display the images in a list form, each shot image is reduced in size and then displayed thereon. Hereinafter, displaying a plurality of images on the display section in a list form will be referred to as a thumbnail display, while an image that is reduced for the purpose of being displayed in a list form will be referred to thumbnail image. In addition, the thumbnail image of the image taken in the horizontally framed shooting posture will be referred to as a horizontally framed thumbnail image, and the thumbnail image of the image taken in the vertically framed shooting posture will be referred to as a vertically framed thumbnail image.
As shown in FIG. 19, according to an invention described in Patent Document 1, when the shot images are displayed in the thumbnail form, the images can be displayed corresponding to the postures in shooting, irrespective of the horizontally framed image or the vertically framed image. The vertically framed thumbnail image displayed on the display section 200, however, is narrower in the range displayed in a horizontal direction compared with the horizontally framed thumbnail image, and cannot be displayed in an enlarged image form. As a result of that, the vertically framed thumbnail image displayed on the display section 200 has been smaller in size compared with the horizontally framed thumbnail image, so that there has been a problem that the image has been hard for the user to see, resulting in a difficulty in visibility.